Evil Harvest Read Free

white piece of paper with black magic marker read Carl Jablonski, Warehouse Supervisor. Either Jablonski didn’t warrant an engraved sign or Folsom was too cheap to spring for one.
    Pressing their backs against the office wall, they shuffled around the office on the two-foot ledge. A waist-high railing ran around the catwalk, but even with that safety measure, one slip could mean a fall to the concrete floor.
    They’d just rounded the corner when Matt heard it. A clicking sound, which grew faster, like beats of a metronome, as its claws grabbed at the floor. Matt didn’t want to look back, because he knew it was gaining. “Faster,” he said.
    Jill took long, quick strides, unfazed by running on a catwalk ten feet in the air. Compared with her fluid movements, Matt thought he must have looked like an arthritic rhinoceros.
    He heard the thing shriek again, and the noise shot through him, cold fingers tickling his spine.
    Matt spied a window ahead and thought they could reach it in time. He had no idea what was on the other side of the window. He hoped for a ladder, but he didn’t expect that any more than he expected their pursuer to give up and go home for the night.
    The catwalk rocked and teetered sideways. Their attacker had reached the platform.
    “Don’t look back,” he told Jill.
    She was already way ahead of him, under the window and drawing the crowbar back to smash it out. She busted the window, the glass cracking into jagged splinters. Winding up again, she busted out the shards and then poked out the remaining glass in the frame. She stuck her head out the window, peeked back in and said, “There’s another roof about five feet below the window. I’ll go first.”
    “Wait—”
    In one smooth movement, she pushed herself up on the sill and swung her legs outside. Her butt on the sill, she pushed off and slipped out of view.
    He heard her hit a solid surface with a soft thud and looked out to see if she was okay. She stood on the rooftop and waved him on.
    “Your turn,” she said.
    He set the tire iron on the windowsill and pushed himself up. Not much time left. Behind him, metal bucked and shook.
    He threw one leg over the sill, straddling it. That was when it grabbed him.
    The clawed hand clamped onto his thigh. Pain shot up his leg. The thing tugged on him, and for one awful moment he thought he would be dragged back into the warehouse. His ankle was already killing him. Matt didn’t need the other leg ruined.
    He pulled the tire iron out from underneath him, the metal cool and heavy in his hand. He brought it over his head, then smashed it into the thing’s hand. It screeched in pain but held firm, yanking at his leg.
    He brought the iron down on the hand once, twice, a third time. The grip loosened slightly and he jerked his leg free. It set him off balance, and he fell sideways, his shoulder smacking the rooftop first. Pain shot up the side of his neck and down through his arm.
    His shoulder was numb, which was somehow more troubling than excruciating pain. Add that to the now-stiffening ankle, and he was really a mess. The creature’s hand had nearly fit around his thigh. Luckily it hadn’t clawed his leg.
    “Let’s go. Are you okay?” she asked.
    He rose to his feet. “For now. I don’t think it can fit through the window.”
    “Do you really want to find out?”
    “No.”
    He heard thuds against the brick. Mortar puffed and flaked as the creature pounded on the wall. A steady stream of hisses and grunts came from inside the warehouse. On its third attempt, a brick popped out and hit the ground, and it shrieked as if in triumph.
    Matt knew they were strong, but pounding through a brick wall? It was time to bail.
    They scurried across the roof to a ladder bolted to the building. He looked over the side, saw they were only one story off the ground and started down the ladder. Jill asked if he wanted a safety harness this time. That was just what he needed, someone with a sense of